The Office of the Prime Minister has denied allegations that a social benefits racket was intended to “buy votes” for the Labour Party in the last general election, noting that the racket had already been referred for investigation before the country went to the polls.

“The allegations by the Nationalist opposition that there may have been abuse related to the buying of votes are baseless, particularly as before the general election a number of solid steps had already been taken on this case, reducing these insinuations to nought,” OPM said. 

OPM said that what is certain is that the authorities have taken and will continue to take all the necessary steps on this case “unlike what used to happen in the past under different administrations.”

The Office of the Prime Minister reiterated once again that as soon as there was a hint of the alleged abuse connected to the social benefits racket exposed in the last week back in 2021, it had referred the matter to the police immediately.

“There is no better evidence than this to prove that the Office of the Prime Minister does not tolerate any illegality,” the same office said in a statement on Sunday morning.

The statement continued that as soon as it became known of how the police investigations were developing, the necessary political decisions were taken “without any dragging of feet.”

“More so, it did not transpire from anywhere that somebody within Castille’s customer care directed anyone to do something which is illegal,” OPM said.

The Office of the Prime Minister referred to a story published by the Times of Malta on Sunday, a week after the initial racket was uncovered, which revealed that beneficiaries of the fraudulent scheme were lured into the racket in return for their votes and a kickback amounting to a year’s worth of benefits.

The beneficiaries interviewed said that aside from former Labour MP Silvio Grixti, there were various middlemen who would forge doctors’ signatures and rubber stamps, as well as false Transport Malta documents.

“The government encourages these people to produce any other evidence necessary, not least by naming the people involved to substantiate what they have said publicly and help the police in their investigations and for justice to be done,” OPM said.

The OPM continued that the people referred to in the interview should, if there is the necessary evidence, be charged before the courts as this is the only way justice can be done, and that is the only way that one can separate what is true and proven from the comments and insinuations intended for political gain. 

OPM noted that a number of “baseless” accusations were made over the past few days, some of which were already withdrawn, making it clear that there are some who are willing to use this case for ulterior motives and are ready to manipulate information to do this.

OPM added that the government is not only interested in justice, but in also strengthening its systems to reduce the possibility of cases of alleged abuse.

To this end, despite the fact that “robust” systems already exist – so much so that it was through the work of the Financial Assistance Division within the Social Security Department that a number suspicious cases were identified and referred to the police – the government believes that an evaluation of the processes so that they can be strengthened where necessary should be done.

This is why, independent from any police investigation, the government has appointed an independent three-person board to evaluate the process as to how the granting of a Severe Disability Benefit is approved.

OPM said that in the last few years this was the government which has implemented the most work-friendly concepts in order to make work pay, and in fact reduced the dependency on social benefits rather than increased it.

The OPM added that the government is determined that social benefits should go only to those who deserve them.